Mountains, Rain, and Trout

[klingy]

Headed for the hills of North Central PA for the past few days. Got rained on. A lot. Streams came up. A lot.

Had my best day ever on Slate Run in both numbers and size of fish (including one of my biggest browns to date), only to see it blown out the next day after a night of downpours.

Brookies in high meadow beaver ponds saved the day. Never will get tired of those eager speckled trout.

Small tribs and class A's were still a lot of fun. Parachute Adams doesn't disappoint.

Found browns in more streams than I expected. Found a stream with brook trout that must stand on each other's shoulders. 16 from one hole. Yikes!

I don't ever get tired of this part of our beautiful state. Just the rain.

 

[BrookieChaser]

Nice pictures and nice fish!

 

[afishinado]

I'm tired of the too much rain threads and posts (my posts included).

Great to see someone being rewarded for fishing in the rain and in high flows and being rewarded with some great fish and a having a good time fishin'.

I guess we should all quit cryin' and just get out there and fish!

Very good.

 

[HopBack]

You were not kidding! Great pictures and awesome trout. Looks like you had a fantastic trip thanks for sharing!

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Awesome! GG

 

[Dave_W]

Wow!
A very motivating thread and a timely reminder that mountain stream trout fishing is the name of the game this year (like last year).

That big brownie is really impressive. Looks to be in the 20" class and very heavy with gorgeous colors.

 

[JackM]

If you take a Chinese man and spin him around, does he become dis-oriented?

 

[BradFromPotter]

Very nice!

 

[dc410]

Great photos, as always! Nicely done. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Prospector]

Wow, this post came out of nowhere. I’ve been watching stream flows since last Sunday that are just at unbelievable levels. I never expected that anyone could even be on a stream at all, let alone have the “bannerist” of banner days. I applaud your perseverance and I’m happy your efforts were rewarded.

I timed my only trip to Slate after a rain that really increased the flow. I had heard days about one-tenth as successful as yours were possible on Slate Run in these conditions. Many insects were hatching and I fished a dry fly upstream and never raised a fish. I was really baffled since everything seemed right to catch at least a few. That half day on Slate remains one of my most baffling days of fly fishing. Favorable conditions combined with lots hatching insects and some of the most stealthy presentations I’ve ever executed. It sure kicked me in the butt.

Once again, I appreciate you showing us what’s possible when opportunity and perseverance intersect.

 

[SteveG]

Those are some great looking fish. Glad you had a rewarding and fun trip

 

[mikephl]

Wow. Great pictures.

 

[wildtrout2]

Looks like you had an awesome trip in NC! Congrats on some gorgeous trout, especially that wild brown. Love the red in the caudal fin.

 

[govtmule]

Awesome...

 

[pcray1231]

Just awesome. Love it. Doesnt get much better than that.

 

[drakeking412]

Very nice photos and fish! I was possibly going to make a trip up there again but instead went to Penn's. As the others have said thanks for showing whats possible even in this insane high water! I'll have to give that type of trip a shot.

 

[REDNECK_FLYFISHER]

Great Pics of a great trip. I think I need to make another run to slate run. I only caught one brookie my last trip there and really didn't think I would make another trip there. You changed my mind.

 

[troutbert]

drakeking412 wrote:
Very nice photos and fish! I was possibly going to make a trip up there again but instead went to Penn's. As the others have said thanks for showing whats possible even in this insane high water! I'll have to give that type of trip a shot.

It is what is possible BECAUSE of the high water. If you go there in low flow conditions you wouldn't do nearly that well.

BTW, fishing for nice wild browns can be found on many freestone streams in PA. I hope everyone doesn't conclude that it can be only found on Slate Run and create traffic jams going up that gravel road.

 

[salmonoid]

troutbert wrote:

drakeking412 wrote:
Very nice photos and fish! I was possibly going to make a trip up there again but instead went to Penn's. As the others have said thanks for showing whats possible even in this insane high water! I'll have to give that type of trip a shot.

It is what is possible BECAUSE of the high water. If you go there in low flow conditions you wouldn't do nearly that well.

BTW, fishing for nice wild browns can be found on many freestone streams in PA. I hope everyone doesn't conclude that it can be only found on Slate Run and create traffic jams going up that gravel road.

Anyone who has fished a Class A or B wild brown trout fishery in low clear water and wonders why the stream is classified the way it is needs to go out and fish that same stream when it's high. The one guy we talked to on Friday says he likes the major river in the area to be in flood stage - that's when he knows the creek he wants to fish is primed. One stream I fish I had previously calibrated to another stream gauge - when that gauge was flowing at 300cfs, the lower portion was primed (primarily after a summer thunderstorm period). Well, the gauge showed the stream was flowing at 1400cfs Wednesday when we hit prime conditions; granted we were in the middle to upper portion of the stream, and the water was borderline knock you off your feet, but it was plenty fishable and has caused me to expand my flow range a bit, for what ideal conditions look like on the smaller stream.

You'll notice a couple of things in high water, if you are fishing a mixed brookie/brown stream:

1) Catch ratios will flip from 2:1 or 3:1 brookie:brown to 4:1 or 5:1 or even as high as 10:1 brown:brookie,
2) The big fish are out to play; with the high water, advantage angler.

Was hoping to run into Klingy, but I think our paths did not quite cross.

 

[klingy]

I was actually surprised how well I did for the conditions on slate. You can see in the first two pictures how clear the water was. In fact, I fished the first two hours without a hit, then they went ballistic. I’ve fished it in higher and lower conditions and didn’t do nearly as well.

I totally agree that having more water in a stream (to a point) makes it easier to fish. As you can see in all of the other stream pics that aren’t slate, having some tint to the water and extra overhead flow really makes small stream fishing a lot more forgiving. But I think it is oversimplifying to say you can’t have a good day fishing in a low clear stream.

Hell, I had a 15 fish day in August on the Letort two years ago on a bluebird day. Went back the next day under the same conditions and did the exact same thing and took the skunk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.